Archives for October 2011

It's bad enough that Clifford Winston and Robert Crandall are receiving so much press for their book, Let's Deregulate All the Lawyers . which I debunked in part in this last post. What's even worse is that this crock of half-truths is now being used to revive the myths about solos as the … [Read more...]

Clifford Winston, an economist at Brookings continues to gain mainstream media coverage for his new book, First Thing We Do, Let's Deregulate All the Lawyers in which Winston and his co-authors argue that non-lawyers can do the same job as lawyers only faster, cheaper and - in many instances better. … [Read more...]

I remember when I first corresponded with Enrico Schaefer, the Greatest American Lawyer back in the early days of the blogosphere. At the time, Enrico had just left his firm to start his own and was blogging anonymously presumably to keep his former partner from learning the details of his … [Read more...]

Like most solos who compete with big firms, my sweet spot is my ability to offer potential clients exceptional value -- high quality work, longstanding experience and industry contacts, a seamless experience through use of technology and an assurance that clients will always deal directly with me … [Read more...]

In my last post, I discussed different types of freebies that lawyers offer as incentives to encourage existing clients to send or refer more work. But lawyers -- and quasi-legal providers like Legal Zoom -- are also using free to generate new clients.
Many lawyers - from solos to behemoth firms … [Read more...]

As I mentioned in Marketing by the Numbers video, it's 11 times more expensive to generate new clients than to attract business from existing clients. Existing or former clients already know you, so you don't have to convince them to hire you. At the same time, because your clients are constantly … [Read more...]

It's always inspiring to learn about a solo who snags a plum client in a well-publicized case. But the accomplishment is even sweeter when the solo beats out a major law firm that - get this - was willing to work for free.
Though this kind of scenario doesn't occur as frequently as many solo … [Read more...]

As the saying goes, bad facts make bad law. And there's going to be some very bad law for lawyer blogs indeed if Virginia small firm lawyer Horace Hunter loses his First Amendment challenge to the Virginia Bar's attempt to require the firm to include certain disclaimers on its blog.
Don't get me … [Read more...]

I bought my first Mac in August 1987. Perhaps more than anything up until the birth of my daughters, my Mac changed my life by making me realize that with my words and a means of production, anything - becoming a writer, starting a business or effecting change - was possible. My Mac gave me the … [Read more...]

Though I started with the best of intentions to track the activities of the ABA Commission on Ethics 2020, I've been having some trouble keeping up with the Commission's relentless pace. This month brings another barrage of proposals on Outsourcing, Client Confidentiality and Technology and … [Read more...]